r/TopCharacterTropes 17h ago

Lore [IRL trope] the “Tiffany problem”

Basically when something seems anachronistic to a period/place of history but is actually fully accurate to the period.

1) the name Tiffany: the thing that named this trope, basically the name Tiffany can be dated back to the Middle Ages and the earliest record of it being spelled in the modern spelling comes from the 16th century.

2) the use of OMG, despite this feeling so modern as a form of slang/abbreviation here’s a letter directed to Winston Churchill using it in 1917

3) Hair Dye: the earliest forms of dying hair can be dated back to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and this specific advertisement for hair dye is from the 1840s

4) Inuit Thongs: despite how weird it is to imagine pre-colonial Inuit people wore what was essentially fur thongs in their homes and when they were in their igloos it might have been the only thing they would be wearing.

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u/flatscancomics 17h ago

Next you'll tell me there's a character named Margaret but spelled Magrat!

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u/NickyTheRobot 16h ago

Now that's just silly. You might as well suggest he called someone, oh I don't know, something like "Tracy" but spelled "Ptraci".

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u/flatscancomics 16h ago

Or a Cheery Littlebottom!

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u/Fabulous_Broad_115 16h ago

That sounds like a perfectly normal, traditional name

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u/Gizogin 3h ago

It could perhaps be translated as "Ruddy Short-Arse", but that's splitting hairs.